Tara And Adam's Rewatch: Workshopping And Pill-Popping

[Primetimer]

The Marilyn musical gets a star, and a name, and a new star. Let's discuss!

Read the story

[swtrgrl]

Thank you guys for doing this.

I love the pedant, especially.

Edited June 4, 2015 by swtrgrl

[allonsyalice]

All feelings about Michael Swift aside, I'm 99% sure that Lexington and 52nd Street is my favourite smash song. (He's really good, okay?) And Linda is 100% my favourite character.

I love reading these posts a lot, and i may have to watch Smash after my Pushing Daisies watch.

[Xazeal]

I missed the first one of these and got all excited when Megan Hilty appeared on the front page. I guess I love this show a lot more than I thought. I've actually considered rewatching it over the summer, and reading this really got me in the mood.

 

"Let's Be Bad" might be my favorite performance of the entire series, and that's the performance that should've erased any doubt that Ivy was the perfect Marilyn. I get that they felt the need to turn Marilyn into a revolving-door-of-casting thing (if only so that Karen had a reason to be there) but it even that early on it was laughable.

 

Still, those early episodes sort of epitomize the very best and very worst of Smash, to me. I love all of the time spent in the rehearsal room, I love Ivy being incredible, I love Derek and Eileen, I love the general mood of the show. And then you also get Karen, Ellis, and Julia being terrible and boring to the point where it's legitimately hilarious. For whatever reason it just clicks for me.

[intensebeige]

I'm so excited to see a Smash re-watch, I might just have to re-watch along.  While Ivy is laughably the superior Marilyn (like, get far away from me with that wig, Karen Cartwright), the song I end up listening to the most from the Bombshell soundtrack is Cut, Print, Moving On.  Weird.

 

And while I remember loathing everything to do with Hit List, the songs have grown on me considerably in passing time.  So much so that Broadway Here I Come might be my favorite song of the series?  I dunno, I have complicated Smash feelings!  

[Kat]

Oh man, I absolutely LOVED all of the gifs that you created for this post. I was laughing so loud at work that it brought a co-worker to my office door to inquire what the hell was so funny. She didn't get it.

ANYWAY, I can't say enough how much I'm enjoying these rewatch recaps, especially the Pedant's guide.

 

 

I remember loathing everything to do with Hit List, the songs have grown on me considerably in passing time.  So much so that Broadway Here I Come might be my favorite song of the series?  I dunno, I have complicated Smash feelings!

I loved all of the songs from Hit List right from the beginning. But since the show ended they've become some of my very favorite music to listen to whenever I need a mood lifting. "Broadway Here I Come", "I Heard Your Voice In A Dream", "Don't Let Me Know" - all great!

As I said before in an earlier post, I am in the minority of people who actually liked the second season of this show better than the first.

[swimmyfish]

Debra Messing, for all of her flaws, is giving some master-level side eyes in those clips. I will never get tired of people being tired of Ellis.

[adam807]

 

the song I end up listening to the most from the Bombshell soundtrack is Cut, Print, Moving On.  Weird.

 

Teaser for next week: You won't believe what my most-listened-to SMASH song is! But Cut, Print... is a GREAT song too! McPhee can sing, for me the problem is just how goofy she LOOKS as Marilyn, especially next to Hilty. 

 

Not to get too far ahead of ourselves and spoil the posts, but I am a FERVENT Hit List defender. It helps that I got to see a live concert where they ret-conned a book onto the songs and it was actually a pretty decent show. But even without that those songs are great.

 

 

I am in the minority of people who actually liked the second season of this show better than the first.

 

Huh, I didn't realize that was a minority opinion! But we'll get there!

 

 

Oh man, I absolutely LOVED all of the gifs that you created for this post.

 

I can't stop making GIFs. I'm obsessed. So much so that I created a side project because I'm making more than we can fit in the posts: http://dontforgifme.tumblr.com. I need professional mental help. Enjoy!

 

Thanks for reading and commenting, guys! Smash Forever!

[allonsyalice]

I can't stop making GIFs. I'm obsessed. So much so that I created a side project because I'm making more than we can fit in the posts: http://dontforgifme.tumblr.com. I need professional mental help. Enjoy!

 

I've definitely just followed because I think A) that url is fantastic and B) I need more smash in my life tbh. 

[FozzyBear]

This was when Karen's lack of a back story started to drive me crazy. Here's what we know about Karen so far: she's 24, she's lived in NYC for 2 years, at some point she suffered a brain injury rendering her incapable of higher problem solving ability.

Just kidding (not kidding at all).

Anyway. So Karen moved to NYC right after college? And bumped into an Oxford educated guy who moved to NYC to take a mid level job in the Mayor's office on the subway and moved into his GIANT apartment that a city employee and coffee shop waitress can afford? Ok we'll all shelf that one for now. She's been in NYC for 2 years and Derek can tell "she's trained" (*sigh* really? Because I can't), so why doesn't she know anything? I mean anything? Like the name of one of the biggest music producers in the business? Or that professional actors often take class? Or where downstage is? OR WHAT A REASONABLE CREDIT CARD BALLACE IS?!?! She's from Iowa, not 1908! Why doesn't she know anything!?

[Zuleikha]

It helps that I got to see a live concert where they ret-conned a book onto the songs and it was actually a pretty decent show.

I don't think it was a retcon. The showrunner released the plot for Hit List with how the songs fit into the story at some point near the end of S2. Definitely before the season ended because I knew what the story of Hit List was when I was still watching Smash. I don't remember where the interview with him was (or even his name), so I don't think I can dig it up. But my memory is that they did always have the story of Hit List.

[adam807]

You're right, I overstated a bit. The concert included some songs that never made it onto TV but that they'd wanted to use, and there were a couple of songs on the show that they had never quite figured out in Hit List but that they just liked, so they figured all that out, and one of the show's writers wrote a (brief) script that had never existed beyond an outline. Also, most of the Hit List songs were preexisting, so the whole thing was ret-conned in a way, like a jukebox musical.

I think the interview was in Vulture.

Edited June 15, 2015 by adam807

[queenanne]

I missed the first one of these and got all excited when Megan Hilty appeared on the front page. I guess I love this show a lot more than I thought. I've actually considered rewatching it over the summer, and reading this really got me in the mood.

 

"Let's Be Bad" might be my favorite performance of the entire series, and that's the performance that should've erased any doubt that Ivy was the perfect Marilyn. I get that they felt the need to turn Marilyn into a revolving-door-of-casting thing (if only so that Karen had a reason to be there) but it even that early on it was laughable.

 

I don’t think the show would have made me so mad if they had been honest about what they were doing, but as it plays, it’s just a big mess.  Why circle the entire pre-show ad campaign around “the competition between Karen and Ivy”, when they clearly never intended for there to be any question about who would win?  Not only does the performance erase all doubt; but they decide that the director’s reaction to this stellar performance that clearly brings everything he ever wanted to the part, was… to look at his actress as if she’d just pulled down her pants and pissed on the rehearsal stage, and stalk out the door in dead silence.  I drove myself crazy for weeks, thinking “Is this because Ivy has just ruined Derek’s plans to put a major star in the role because of being so unquestionably IT?”  Etc.  Little did I know, the actual answer was “actually we told the showrunner she had to make up some reason why this would piss off the director and she had no idea, so just made Derek act like he had a stroke.”

 

This was when Karen's lack of a back story started to drive me crazy. Here's what we know about Karen so far: she's 24, she's lived in NYC for 2 years, at some point she suffered a brain injury rendering her incapable of higher problem solving ability.

Just kidding (not kidding at all).

Anyway. So Karen moved to NYC right after college? And bumped into an Oxford educated guy who moved to NYC to take a mid level job in the Mayor's office on the subway and moved into his GIANT apartment that a city employee and coffee shop waitress can afford? Ok we'll all shelf that one for now. She's been in NYC for 2 years and Derek can tell "she's trained" (*sigh* really? Because I can't), so why doesn't she know anything? I mean anything? Like the name of one of the biggest music producers in the business? Or that professional actors often take class? Or where downstage is? OR WHAT A REASONABLE CREDIT CARD BALLACE IS?!?! She's from Iowa, not 1908! Why doesn't she know anything!?

 

And this is more of what I thought throughout Season 1.  I actually thought, because they'd spent time pre-teasing this show as "All About Eve", I thought "Aha!  HERE's my intrigue!  British Dev and British Derek KNOW each other already, and have hatched an elaborate plan to put Karen in the role of Marilyn even though she is so clearly underqualified for it!"  (Because it actually gets worse than you outlined; she doesn't just "bump into him."  In one of the episodes, Dev very clearly reminisces to Karen about how they met in "that pub in London".  So apparently he moved to NYC for her, after they met in the junior year study abroad program that Karen's parents paid for, I guess.)  

 

Oh, and Karen also had a Playbill bio at some point, as did many of the other actors.  Along with the "downstage" discussion, they thought it was a good idea to give Karen Equity theater credits in I think, the likes of Queens.  Plus I thought they made S1 Dylan Baker carol about how beautifully Karen sang in high school musical, which experience also would have included such helpful explanation and experiences as "what the tapes marks on the floor mean" and "don't sing louder than the lead, unless you're a little snip whose sole goal is to sing louder than the lead and upstage her."  Gah, this show made me want to sling something at the screen!

[FozzyBear]

I don’t think the show would have made me so mad if they had been honest about what they were doing, but as it plays, it’s just a big mess. Why circle the entire pre-show ad campaign around “the competition between Karen and Ivy”, when they clearly never intended for there to be any question about who would win? Not only does the performance erase all doubt; but they decide that the director’s reaction to this stellar performance that clearly brings everything he ever wanted to the part, was… to look at his actress as if she’d just pulled down her pants and pissed on the rehearsal stage, and stalk out the door in dead silence. I drove myself crazy for weeks, thinking “Is this because Ivy has just ruined Derek’s plans to put a major star in the role because of being so unquestionably IT?” Etc. Little did I know, the actual answer was “actually we told the showrunner she had to make up some reason why this would piss off the director and she had no idea, so just made Derek act like he had a stroke.”

And this is more of what I thought throughout Season 1. I actually thought, because they'd spent time pre-teasing this show as "All About Eve", I thought "Aha! HERE's my intrigue! British Dev and British Derek KNOW each other already, and have hatched an elaborate plan to put Karen in the role of Marilyn even though she is so clearly underqualified for it!" (Because it actually gets worse than you outlined; she doesn't just "bump into him." In one of the episodes, Dev very clearly reminisces to Karen about how they met in "that pub in London". So apparently he moved to NYC for her, after they met in the junior year study abroad program that Karen's parents paid for, I guess.)

Oh, and Karen also had a Playbill bio at some point, as did many of the other actors. Along with the "downstage" discussion, they thought it was a good idea to give Karen Equity theater credits in I think, the likes of Queens. Plus I thought they made S1 Dylan Baker carol about how beautifully Karen sang in high school musical, which experience also would have included such helpful explanation and experiences as "what the tapes marks on the floor mean" and "don't sing louder than the lead, unless you're a little snip whose sole goal is to sing louder than the lead and upstage her." Gah, this show made me want to sling something at the screen!

This sort of thing is why I actualy snickered out loud about Darek being able to tell that Karen has trained. Smash never shows this. Ever. Karen acts like she's never even been on stage. I never got past community theater and I know how to write blocking in a script and what tape marks in a rehearsal space are for and what to expect in a tech rehersal and what "taking class" means. And Downstage! DOWNSTAGE! How can you even get out of High School drama and not know this stuff? Katherine McPhee may be obviously trained, but Karen Cartwright is not.